UNITED NATIONS, December 19. /TASS/. Russia believes there is no alternative to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear program and believes that restarting the deal is necessary for international security, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said.

"The Russian Federation is convinced that there is no alternative to the JCPOA. An early restart of the plan is the only way that meets the interests of regional and international security," he said at a meeting of the UN Security Council.

"We hope that the UN Secretary General [Antonio Guterres], who calls the plan the best possible way to ensure the peaceful nature of the Iranian nuclear program, will not allow, to put it mildly, controversial elements in his reports that jeopardize the already fragile prospects for the full restoration of the Vienna agreements," he added.

The five permanent members of the UN Security Council, as well as Germany, signed the JCPOA with Iran in 2015, with the goal of resolving the situation around Tehran's nuclear developments. Former US President Donald Trump opted to withdraw from this pact in 2018. Joe Biden, the current president of the United States, has often stated his willingness to return Washington to the nuclear accord. However, talks to fully restore the JCPOA fell through. In a confidential meeting with Democratic voters last November, Biden said that the Iran nuclear deal was virtually dead, although Washington, he said, had no intention of publicly stating that view. The video recording of this meeting was later made public.